Acute respiratory failure in pulmonary congestion: Case report and review

Pulmonary Congestion (PC) is one of the most important causes of death in patients with heart failure which can be induced by a functional disorder no macroscopic appreciable in the examination of the heart. The authors present a case of edema and Respiratory Failure (RF) by PC in absence of clear and significant cardiac pathological elements in autopsy. Before the edema and then the PC act through an atelectasic mechanism that can be the cause of RF. The PC is often underestimated in the necropsy findings rather than being considered the main cause of death both in the case of objective cardiac injuries that in functional cardiac deaths.